BCL central committee: It’s a DU show

Dhaka University students have been selected for  the majority of crucial positions in the central committee of the Awami League-backed student organisation, Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL).

The newly announced 301-member committee highlights a stark contrast, as 226 members hail from Dhaka University, overshadowing their counterparts from other universities.

Only two were incorporated in the central committee from Jahangirnagar University, while only one person each was made a member of the committee from the Rajshahi University, and Chittagong University.

Adnan Hossen is the lone person from Rajshahi University to get posted in the central executive committee. He has been made assistant secretary.

The only person who has been incorporated in the central committee from Chittagong University is Quazi Noor-Un-Nabi. He was made deputy mass education affairs secretary, which is deemed a less significant post in BCL.

Deprived students have expressed their grievances saying that it does not look like the central committee of Chhatra League rather the DU central committee.

The newly announced 301-member BCL committee highlights a stark contrast, as 226 members hail from DU, overshadowing their counterparts from other universities. Only two were incorporated in the central committee from JU and one each from RU and CU.

They also alleged that only a handful of leaders outside DU, have been given the major posts like vice-president, organising secretary and joint general secretary.

After analysing the central committee, it was found that out of 71 vice-president post, 57 are held by either current or former students of DU and only 14 are from different units of the student's body. All the 22 organising and joint general secretaries are DU students.

When it comes to insignificant posts like assistant secretary or general member, the picture is quite the opposite. Most of the aspirants who are not DU students have been incorporated into those posts.

Of the 18 persons who got assistant secretary posts, 13 are from other educational institutions.

"There are many leaders from Jahangirnagar University who are capable of holding major posts in the central committee, but we have been deprived. We also  became victims of such injustice in  past committees," a top leader of JU unit BCL told The Daily Star wishing anonymity.

This has been a common practice when forming full-fledged committees where the DU students posts and aspirants from other educational institutions were largely overlooked, he further said.

In the last two committees of BCL's central executive unit, over 230 leaders were either former or current students of DU, as per the BCL office.

" We have seen this trend earlier too. But we have nowhere to go and no one to complain to," said Durjoy Chakroborty, a vice-president of Chittagong Universty unit BCL.

Around seven months after announcing the names of president and general secretary, BCL's full-fledged committee was announced.

On December 20 last year, AL general secretary Obaidul Quader announced the central committee with Saddam Hossain as president and Sheikh Wali Asif Inan as general secretary.

Also, eight new secretary-level posts have been added to the central committee, keeping the total number of members unchanged.

Saddam could not be contacted for comments.

When asked about the issue, BCL central committee general secretary Sheikh Wali Asif Inan evaded the question.

He said, "The allegations are baseless. I am not from Dhaka. I am from Jhalakathi. The president is also not from the capital, he is from Panchagarh. We try to ensure that we have representatives from all the corners of the country. We do not put emphasise on who belongs to which university."